The article below was published in the daily newspaper La Liberté de l'Est, France, on May 4, 1975.
Niort. -- While on patrol in the night from Thursday to Friday, two gendarmes from Lagny (Deux-Sèvres), saw a luminous ball as big as a full moon which landed near the village school. The object took off again shortly after in a sound of partridge flight, in the direction of another town. We cannot doubt the observation of the two representatives of the Law, especially since they asked several pétanque players who finished a game around midnight, to note the presence of this U.F.O.
The gendarmes were in their van when they observed the U.F.O. at low altitude, and of which they followed the entire descent. One of them, Constable Dutel, then got out of the vehicle and approached 20 meters from the craft which sparkled, he said, with a thousand fires. But as he tried to get even closer, the craft flew away.
The two gendarmes then very distinctly saw two red lights under the U.F.O. Barely recovered from their emotions, they shouted to the pétanque players to watch the flight of the U.F.O. That is what Messrs. Vigneault, rural guard, a merchant, the tax collector and the deputy mayor did. They are all unanimous: "Until now we laughed at flying saucers, but we have to face the facts, what we have seen is not a natural phenomenon."
On the ground, there is no trace of the landing of the U.F.O. The gendarmes returned to the scene, but found no clues. They drew up a report of their observations, which was transmitted to the national command of the gendarmerie.
